Men Are Beasts

Rating: 6/10 (9 May 2012)

In the prologue, a team of animal rights protesters enter a laboratory to free some caged chimpanzees, which seem to be the subject of unfortunate experiments. At first, the cute creatures are caged animals yearning to be free. But we quickly see the chimps are diseased with "Rage!" They bite the hand that frees them. Apocalypse ensues "28 Days Later" our protagonist Cillian Murphy (as Jim) awakes completely naked in a hospital bed. Maybe Mr. Murphy was getting ready for a bath. He gets dressed and director Danny Boyle's cameras follow him through a ravaged and deserted London. Murphy first meets a crazy priest. But his more important encounter is with super-bad Naomie Harris (as Selena). She's very cool...
The home video sleeve exclaims, "Hailed as the most frightening film since 'The Exorcist', acclaimed director Danny Boyle's groundbreaking (changed to 'visionary' for re-releases) take on zombie horror 'isn't just scary...it's absolutely terrifying' (Access Hollywood)." This is a good movie, but it's certainly not up to the lofty reviews being referenced. In fact, this has all been done before, and several times better. Perhaps most noteworthy is the comparison of cannibalistic zombies with a group of men found to be infected with lust for women, during a long period without female companionship. Probably, the film is drawing parallels. There could also be some political observation being made in the opening trigger, or not
****** 28 Days Later... (11/1/02) Danny Boyle ~ Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, Megan Burns, Christopher Eccleston